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Copenhagen : The Capital of Denmark

 

Copenhagen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Copenhagen
København

View of Copenhagen
Coat of arms





Copenhagen is located in Denmark

Copenhagen
Location in Denmark
Coordinates: 55°40′34″N 12°34′06″E / 55.67611°N 12.56833°E / 55.67611; 12.56833Coordinates:
55°40′34″N 12°34′06″E / 55.67611°N 12.56833°E / 55.67611; 12.56833
CountryDenmark
Municipalities[1]
Region Hovedstaden
First mention 11th century
City Status 13th century





























Copenhagen (play /ˈkoʊpənheɪɡən/ or /ˈkoʊpənhɑːɡən/; Danish: København pronounced [købənˈhɑʊ̯ˀn]  ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,181,239 (2010) and a metropolitan population of 1,901,789 (2010). Copenhagen is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager.
First documented in the 11th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the beginning of the 15th century. During the 17th century, under the reign of Christian IV, it became a significant regional centre. With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Oresund Region. Within this region, Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö are growing into one common metropolitan area. In 2008, Copenhagen was the most visited city of the Nordic countries with 1.3 million international tourists.[3]
Copenhagen is a major regional centre of culture, business, media, and science, as indicated by several international surveys and rankings (see International rankings below). Life science, information technology and shipping are important sectors and research & development plays a major role in the city's economy. Its strategic location and excellent infrastructure with the largest airport in Scandinavia[4] located 14 minutes by train from the city centre, has made it a regional hub and a popular location for regional headquarters[5] as well as conventions.
Copenhagen has repeatedly been recognized as one of the cities with the best quality of life.[6][7][8] It is also considered one of the world's most environmentally friendly cities. The water in the inner harbour is so clean that it can be swum in, and 36% of all citizens commute to work by bicycle. Every day they cycle a combined 1.2 million km.[9]
Since the turn of the millennium, Copenhagen has seen a strong urban and cultural development and has been described as a boom town.[10] This is partly due to massive investments in cultural facilities as well as infrastructure and a new wave of successful designers, chefs and architects.[11] As of 2010, Copenhagen is ranked as the 10th most expensive city in the world according to Forbes.[1

History

Main article: History of Copenhagen

Havnegade, Copenhagen, circa 1900
Traditionally Copenhagen's foundation has been dated to Bishop Absalon's construction of a castle on the small island of Slotsholmen in 1167 where Christiansborg Palace stands today. Recent archeological finds indicate that by the 11th century, Copenhagen had already grown into a small town with a large estate, a church, a market, at least two wells and many smaller habitations spread over a fairly wide area.[13] Many historians believe that the town dates to the late Viking age, and was possibly founded by Sweyn I Forkbeard. From the middle of the 12th century it grew in importance, after coming into the possession of Bishop Absalon, who fortified it in 1167, the year traditionally marking the foundation of Copenhagen. The excellent harbour encouraged Copenhagen's growth until it became an important centre of commerce.
The city's origin as a harbour and a place of commerce is reflected in its name. Its original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name is derived, was Køpmannæhafn, merchants' harbour or buyer's haven. The English name for the city is derived from its Low German name, Kopenhagen. The element hafnium is also named for Copenhagen, whose Latin name is Hafnia,[14] derived from the city’s original name Hafnæ (‘harbour’).
It was repeatedly attacked by the Hanseatic League as the Germans took notice. In 1254, it received its charter as a city under Bishop Jakob Erlandsen. During 1658–59 it withstood a severe siege by the Swedes under Charles X and successfully repelled a major assault. In 1711 the plague reduced Copenhagen's population of about 65,000 by one-third.[15]
On 2 April 1801 a British fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker fought and defeated a Danish-Norwegian fleet anchored just off Copenhagen. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson led the main attack.[16][17][18] He famously disobeyed Parker's order to withdraw, destroying many of the Dano-Norwegian ships before a truce was agreed.[16][19][20] Copenhagen is often considered to be Nelson's hardest fought battle, surpassing even the heavy fighting at Trafalgar.[16][19][21][22][23] It was during this battle that Lord Nelson famously "put the telescope to the blind eye" in order not to see Admiral Parker's signal to cease fire.[21]
The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 5 September 1807) was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet.[19][21][24][25] The British landed 30,000 men and surrounded Copenhagen.[19][21] The attack continued for the next three days and resulted in the death of at least 2,000 civilians and destruction of most of the city.[19][21][24] The devastation was so great because Copenhagen relied on an old defence-line rendered virtually useless by the increase in shooting range available to the British.[24][26] Not until the 1850s were the ramparts of the city opened to allow new housing to be built around The Lakes (Danish: Søerne) which bordered the old defence system to the west.[24] This dramatic increase of space was long overdue, not only because the old ramparts were out of date as a defence system, but also because of bad sanitation in the old city. Before the opening, central Copenhagen was inhabited by approximately 125,000 people, peaking in the census of 1870 (140,000); today the figure is around 25,000. In 1901, Copenhagen expanded further, incorporating communities with 40,000 people, and in the process making Frederiksberg an enclave within Copenhagen.
During World War II, Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country from 9 April 1940 until 4 May 1945. In August 1943, when the government's collaboration with the occupation forces collapsed, several ships were sunk in Copenhagen Harbour by the Royal Danish Navy to prevent them being used by the Germans. The city has grown greatly since the war, in the seventies using the so-called five-finger-plan of commuter train lines to surrounding towns and suburbs.
Since the summer of 2000, Copenhagen and Swedish city Malmö have been connected by a toll bridge/tunnel (Øresund Bridge), which allows both rail and road transit. As a result, Copenhagen has become the centre of a larger metropolitan area which spans both nations. The construction of the bridge has led to many changes to the public transport system and extensive redevelopment of Amager, south of the main city.

Geography

Location


Copenhagen City Hall

Kongens Nytorv
Copenhagen is located on the eastern shore of the island of Zealand (Sjælland), partly on the island of Amager and on a number of natural and artificial islets in between the two. Copenhagen faces the Øresund to the east, the strait of water that separates Denmark from Sweden, and which connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. On the Swedish side of the sound directly across from Copenhagen, lies the towns of Malmö and Landskrona.
Copenhagen is also a part of the Øresund region, which consists of Zealand, Lolland-Falster and Bornholm in Denmark and Scania in Sweden.

Copenhagen Municipality

Copenhagen Municipality is an administrative unit which covers the central part of the actual city of Copenhagen. It is a fairly small part of the actual city which falls within the municipality both because it covers a confined area and because the enclave of Frederiksberg is an independent municipality. Since a reform in 2006–08, Copenhagen is divided into 10 official districts (Danish: Bydele).[27]
Official districts Other areas
The suffix -bro in the names Østerbro, Nørrebro, Vesterbro and Amagerbro should not be confused with the Danish word for bridge, which is also 'bro'. The term is thought to be an abbreviation or short form of the Danish word brolagt meaning paved referring to the roads paved with cobblestones leading to the city's former gates.

Greater Copenhagen

The conurbation of Copenhagen consists of several municipalities. After Copenhagen Municipality, the second largest is Frederiksberg Municipality which is an enclave inside Copenhagen Municipality. Both are contained in the larger Capital Region of Denmark, containing most of the Copenhagen metropolitan area.
Previously, the areas of Frederiksberg, Gentofte and Copenhagen municipalities have been used to define the city of Copenhagen. This definition is now obsolete. To meet statistical needs upon the latest municipal reform, which took place in the beginning of 2007, a definitory concept of Danish lands (Danish: landsdele) have been introduced. A land is basically a geographical and statistical definition, and the area is not considered to be an administrative unit. The land of Copenhagen City includes the municipalities of Copenhagen, Dragør, Frederiksberg and Tårnby, with a total population of 667,228 in the beginning of 2009.[28][29]
Copenhagen and Frederiksberg were two of the three last Danish municipalities not belonging to a county. On the 1st of January 2007, the municipalities lost their county privileges and became part of Copenhagen Capital Region.

Finger Plan

Suburban Copenhagen is planned according to the Finger Plan (Danish: Fingerplanen), initiated in 1947, dividing the suburbs into five fingers.[30] The S-train lines are built according to the Finger Plan, while green wedges and highways are built in between the fingers.

Climate

Copenhagen is in the oceanic climate zone, bordering on a humid continental climate (Köppen: Cfb). As the city is in the path of Atlantic low-pressure systems, Copenhagen experiences unstable and changing weather patterns in all four seasons, as well as temperatures about 5 degrees higher than average for its latitude worldwide. (about 55 Degrees North). The main reason for this warmth is the Atlantic Gulf Stream, which pushes warm water from around the Sargasso towards the northwest, and the low-pressure systems follow with the oceanic stream.
Precipitation is moderate throughout the year, with a small peak during June to August. Snowfall occurs mainly from late December until early March, but snow cover seldom lasts for long. Rain during January and February is as common as snow, and the average temperatures for these two winter months is almost exactly on the freezing point.
During winter, the weather is dependent on which latitude the Atlantic low pressure centre takes. With a stable high pressure system around the Alps, the low pressure from the southwest makes way to southern Scandinavia and northern Germany. Temperatures then usually get above freezing, day and night. When a stable high pressure system sits in Denmark itself, or towards the northeast, such as Finland or Russia, the mild Atlantic winds from the southwest can be blocked. With this follows the northern or northeastern polar air, and the temperature drops rather fast to below freezing (rarely below −5 °C (23 °F) during the day and −12 °C (10 °F) during the night). If the European continent experiences cold due to the eastern Russian winds, which rarely occurs, it can "freeze from the south"[citation needed]. This was a phenomenon that took several centuries to understand.
Spring is comparable to continental Europe, but delayed about a week because of the cold surrounding water. On the other hand, in late autumn Copenhagen is kept milder due to the same factor, but reversed. In late November and December, water temperatures are generally higher than the air with wind-chill conditions. In the period from mid-October to February, one or two storms (or even hurricanes) occur. Storms in the summertime are very rare.
Summer is, like the other seasons, a mixture of southwestern mild, windy and rainy low pressure systems, and periods of stable high pressures. In summer, high pressure systems usually bring sunny and fairly warm weather. But these warm periods, which can occur anytime from late April until mid September, usually last no longer than ten days.[citation needed]
[hide]Climate data for Copenhagen (1961–1990)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 1.9
(35.4)		 2.0
(35.6)		 4.8
(40.6)		 9.5
(49.1)		 15.0
(59)		 19.2
(66.6)		 20.4
(68.7)		 20.3
(68.5)		 16.7
(62.1)		 12.1
(53.8)		 7.1
(44.8)		 3.7
(38.7)		 11.1
(52)
Average low °C (°F) -2.0
(28.4)		 -2.4
(27.7)		 -0.6
(30.9)		 2.3
(36.1)		 7.2
(45)		 11.3
(52.3)		 12.9
(55.2)		 12.6
(54.7)		 9.8
(49.6)		 6.7
(44.1)		 2.7
(36.9)		 -0.5
(31.1)		 5.0
(41)
Precipitation mm (inches) 46
(1.81)		 30
(1.18)		 39
(1.54)		 39
(1.54)		 42
(1.65)		 52
(2.05)		 68
(2.68)		 64
(2.52)		 60
(2.36)		 56
(2.2)		 61
(2.4)		 56
(2.2)		 613
(24.13)
Avg. rainy days 17 13 14 13 13 11 13 13 14 14 17 16 168
Sunshine hours 45 67 110 168 217 218 202 193 133 90 55 42 1,539
Source #1: Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut
Source #2: World Weather Information Service[31]

Cityscape


Gefion Fountain
The city's appearance today is shaped by the key role it has played as a regional centre for centuries. Copenhagen has a multitude of districts, each representing its time and with its own distinctive character, making up a dense urban fabric. Other distinctive features of Copenhagen of today is the abundance of water, the high number of parks and the elaborate system of bicycle paths that line almost every major street.

[edit] Architecture

See also: Architecture in Copenhagen and List of buildings in and around Copenhagen

The Marble Church
The oldest section of Copenhagen's inner city is often referred to as "Middelalderbyen" (The Medieval City). However, the most distinctive district of Copenhagen is Frederiksstaden developed during the reign of Frederick V. It has Amalienborg Palace at its centre and is dominated by the dome of the Marble Church as well as a number of elegant 18th century mansions. Also part of the old inner city of Copenhagen is the small island of Slotsholmen with Christiansborg Palace and Christianshavn. Around the historical city centre lies a band of congenial residential bouroughs (Vesterbro, Inner Nørrebro, Inner Østerbro) dating mainly from late 19th century. They were built outside the old ramparts of the city when the city was finally allowed to expand beyond this barrier.
Sometimes referred to as "the City of Spires", Copenhagen is known for its horizontal skyline, only broken by spires at churches and castles. Most characteristic is the baroque spire of Church of Our Saviour with its spiralling and narrowing external stairs that visitors can climb to the very top of the spire. Other important spires are those of Christiansborg Palace, the City Hall and the former Church of St. Nikolaj that now houses a modern art venue. A bit lower are the renaissance spires of Rosenborg Castle and the "dragon spire" of Christian IV's former stock exchange, so named because it is shaped as the tails of four dragons twined together.
Recent years have seen a tremendous boom in modern architecture in Copenhagen[32] both when it comes to Danish architecture and works by international architects. For a few hundred years, virtually no foreign architects had worked in Copenhagen but since the turn of the millennium the city and its immediate sourroundings have seen buildings and projects from international star architects. In the same time, a number of Danish architects have achieved great success both in Copenhagen and abroad. Buildings in Copenhagen have won RIBA European Awards four years in a row ("Sampension" in 2005,[33] "Kilen" in 2006,[34] "Tietgenkollegiet" in 2007[35] and the Royal Playhouse in 2008[36]). The last three mentioned projects are all by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects. At the 2008 World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Bjarke Ingels Group won an award for the World's Best Residential Building 2008 for a house in Ørestad.[37] The Forum AID Award for Best building in Scandinavia went to Copenhagen buildings both in 2006[38] and 2008.[39] In 2008 British design magazine Monocle named Copenhagen the World's best design city 2008.[40]
The boom in urban development and modern architecture means that the above mentioned horizontal skyline has seen some changes. A political majority has decided to keep the historical centre free of highrises. But several areas will see or have already seen massive urban development. Ørestad is the area that until now has seen most of the development. Located near Copenhagen Airport, it currently boasts one of the largest malls in Scandinavia and a variety of office and residential buildings as well as IT University and a high school. The two largest hotels in Scandinavia are currently under construction (ultimo 2008).

The Royal Danish Playhouse by Lundgaard & Tranberg
An ambitious regeneration project will create a new Carlsberg District at the historical premises of the Carlsberg Breweries that has terminated the production of beer in Copenhagen and moved it to Fredericia. The district will have a total of nine highrises and seeks to mix the old industrial buildings with modern architecture to create a dense, maze-like quarter with a focus on sustainability and an active urban life. A third major area of urban development also with a focus on sustanibility is Nordhavn. The Copenhagen tradition with urban development on artificial islands that was initiated with Christian IV's construction of Christianshavn has recently been continued with the creation of Havneholmen as well as a canal district at Sluseholmen in the South Harbour. A district in Copenhagen with a very different take on modern architecture is that of Christiania whose many creative and idiosyncratic buildings are exponents of an "architecture without architects".

Parks

Main article: Parks and open spaces in Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden
Copenhagen is a green city with many big and small parks. King's Garden, the garden of Rosenborg Castle, is the oldest and most visited park in Copenhagen.[41] Its landscaping was commenced by Christian IV in 1606. Every year it sees more than 2.5 million visitors[42] and in the summer months it is packed with sunbathers, picnickers and ballplayers. It also serves as a sculpture garden with a permanent display of sculptures as well as temporary exhibits during summer.[41] Also located in the city centre are the Botanical Gardens particularly noted for their large complex of 19th century greenhouses donated by Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen.[43] Fælledparken is with its 58 hectares the largest park in Copenhagen.[44] It is popular for sports and hosts a long array of annual events like a free opera concert at the opening of the opera season, other open-air concerts, carnival, Labour Day celebrations and Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix, which is a race for antique cars. A historical green space in the northeastern part of the city is Kastellet which is a well-preserved renaissance citadel that now serves mainly as a park. Another popular park is the Frederiksberg Garden which is a 32-hectare romantic landscape park. It houses a large colony of very tame grey herons along with other waterfowl. The park also offers views of the elephants and the elephant house designed by world-famous British architect Norman Foster of the adjacent Copenhagen Zoo.
A characteristic of Copenhagen is that a number of cemeteries double as parks, though only for the more quiet activities such as sunbathing, reading and meditation.[45] Assistens Cemetery, the burial place of Hans Christian Andersen among others, is an important green space for the district of Inner Nørrebro and a Copenhagen institution. The lesser known Vestre Kirkegaard is with its 54 hectares the largest cemetery in Denmark[46] and offers a maze of dense groves, open lawns, winding paths, hedges, overgrown tombs, monuments, tree-lined avenues, lakes and other garden features.
It is official municipal policy in Copenhagen that all citizens by 2015 must be able to reach a park or beach on foot in less than 15 minutes.[47] In line with this policy, several new parks are under development in areas lacking green spaces.[48][49]

[edit] Beaches

Copenhagen and the surrounding areas have 3 beaches with a total of approx. 8 km of sandy beaches within 30 minutes cycling from the city centre. This includes Amager Strandpark, which opened in 2005 and includes a 2 km long artificial island and a total of 4.6 km of beaches,[50] located just 15 minutes by bicycle or a few minutes by metro from the city centre.
The beaches are supplemented by a system of Harbour Baths along the Copenhagen waterfront. The first and most popular of these is located at Islands Brygge[51] and has won international acclaim for its design.[52]

Demographics

As of 2010, 78.4% of Copenhagen's population is Danish, 7.0% are immigrants from western countries and 14.47% of a non-Western background.[53]

Gråbrødretorv, central Copenhagen
Depending on the boundaries used, the population of Copenhagen differs. Statistics Denmark uses a measure of the contiguously built-up urban area of Copenhagen, this means the number of communities included in this statistical abstract has changed several times, in the abstracts latest edition with close to 1.2 million (1,153,615 (2008) inhabitants. This number is not a strict result of the commonly used measuring methods of 200 meters of continuously build-up area, as there are exceptions to the general rule: The suburbs of Birkerød and Hørsholm are excluded, while all of Brøndby and parts of Ishøj and Greve are included.[citation needed] Statistics Denmark has never stated the geographical area of urban Copenhagen. However, we know it consists of Copenhagen Municipality, Frederiksberg and 16 of the 20 municipalities in the old counties Copenhagen and Roskilde, though 5 of them only partially.[54]
Statistics Denmark has worked out definitions of so-called lands (landsdele), a definition used to meet statistical needs on a lower level than regions. From this, the land of Copenhagen city (København by) is defined by the municipalities of Copenhagen, Dragør, Frederiksberg and Tårnby, with a total population of 667,228 in the beginning of 2009.[28][29] The surroundings of Copenhagen is defined by another land, Copenhagen suburban (Københavns omegn), which includes the municipalities of Albertslund, Ballerup, Brøndby, Gentofte, Gladsaxe, Glostrup, Herlev, Hvidovre, Høje-Taastrup, Ishøj, Lyngby-Taarbæk, Rødovre and Vallensbæk, and with a total population of 508,183 (January 1, 2009).[28][29] This gives a total population of 1,171,709 for these two lands together. The lands of Copenhagen city and Copenhagen suburban can together be used as a definition of the metropolitan area, although perhaps a somewhat narrow one.
From 1 January 2009 the population of the 34 municipalities closest to and including the municipality of Copenhagen is 1.875.179.[55] Land area: 2,923 km². (Capital Region – Bornholm + East Zealand + Stevns) .[56] Thus, the region comprises 6.8% of the land area of Denmark, but has 34% of Denmark's population. This gives a total of 667 inhabitants per km² or 1,660 per square mile for the region. This compares with a population density in the rest of the country of approximately 90 per km² or around 230 per square mile.
Based on a 10%-isoline (data from 2002) in which at least 10% commutes into central parts of the Copenhagen area, most of Zealand would be covered and this area has a population of about 2.3 million inhabitants.[57]
Since the opening of the Øresund Bridge in 2000, commuting between and integration of Greater Malmö and Copenhagen have increased rapidly, and a combined statistical metropolitan area has formed. This combined metropolitan area, which has a population of 2,488,551 (2009) is expected to be officially defined by the respective statistics divisions of Denmark and Sweden in the upcoming years.[citation needed]
A high-ranking civil servant of the Interior Ministry, Henning Strøm, who was involved in (i.e. known as "the Father of") a past municipal reform, which took effect on 1 April 1970, said on television, broadcast in connection with the recent Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), that Copenhagen municipality would encompass an area with 1.5 million inhabitants, if the principles of the 1970 municipal reform were also applied on Copenhagen municipality.[58] In other words: in the rest of Denmark the city occupies only part of the municipality, but in Copenhagen the municipality of Copenhagen occupies only part of the city of Copenhagen.

[edit] Culture and recreation

Since the late 1990s, Copenhagen has undergone a transformation from a cozy Scandinavian capital to a cool metropolitan city of international scope in the league of cities like Barcelona and Amsterdam.[59] This is due to massive investments in infrastructure as well as culture and a wave of new successful Danish architects, designers and chefs.[7][32]

Museums

See also: List of museums in and around Copenhagen
Copenhagen has a wide array of museums of International standard. The National Museum, Nationalmuseet, is Denmark's largest museum of Archaeology and cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures alike. The National Gallery – "Statens Museum for Kunst" – is Denmark's national art museum and contains collections dating from 12th century and all the way up to present day artists. Among artists represented in the collections are Rubens, Rembrandt, Picasso, Braque, Léger, Matisse and Emil Nolde.
Another important Copenhagen art museum is the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek founded by second generation Carlsberg tycoon-philanthropist Carl Jacobsen and is built around his personal collections. Its main focus is classical Egyptian, Roman and Greek sculptures and other antiquities and a collection of Rodin sculptures that is the largest outside France[60] (Glypto-, from the Greek root glyphein, to carve and theke, a storing-place). Besides its sculpture collections, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek also holds a comprehensive collection of paintings of impressionist and post-impressionist painters such as Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec as well as Danish Golden Age painters.
Louisiana is a museum of modern art situated on the coast just north of Copenhagen. It is located in the middle of a sculpture garden on a cliff overlooking Øresund. The museum is included in the Patricia Schultz book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. The Danish Museum of Art & Design is housed in the 18th century former Frederiks Hospital and displays Danish design as well as international design and crafts.
Other museums include:

Performing Arts


Copenhagen Opera House as seen from the Royal Playhouse
The new Copenhagen Concert Hall opened in January 2009. It is designed by Jean Nouvel and has four halls with the main auditorium seating 1800 people. It serves as the home of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and along with the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles the most expensive concert hall ever built.[61] Another important venue for classical music is the Tivoli Concert Hall located in the historical Tivoli Gardens. The Copenhagen Opera House (in Danish usually called Operaen) that opened in 2005 and is designed by Henning Larsen, is the national opera house of Denmark and among the most modern opera houses in the world. The old Royal Danish Theatre dating from 1748 still works as a supplementary opera scene. The Royal Danish Theatre is also home to the Royal Danish Ballet. Founded in 1748 along with the theatre, it is one of the oldest ballet troupes in Europe. It is home to the Bournonville style of ballet.

The Royal Danish Theatre
Copenhagen has a significant jazz scene that has existed for many years. It developed when a number of American jazz musicians such as Ben Webster, Thad Jones, Richard Boone, Ernie Wilkins, Kenny Drew, Ed Thigpen, Bob Rockwell, Dexter Gordon, and others such as rock guitarist Link Wray came to live in Copenhagen during the 1960s. Every year in early July Copenhagen's streets, squares and parks fill up with big and small jazz concerts during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival (see yearly events). The most important venue for rhythmical music in Copenhagen is Vega in Vesterbro district which has been chosen as "best concert venue in Europe" by international music magazine Live[62]
For free entertainment one can stroll along Strøget, especially between Nytorv and Højbro Plads, which in the late afternoon and evening is a bit like an impromptu three-ring circus with musicians, magicians, jugglers and other street performers.

 Sports

Copenhagen has a wide variety of sport teams. The two major football teams are Brøndby IF and FC København. Brøndby IF plays at Brøndby Stadium in Brøndby and FC København plays at Parken in Østerbro, Copenhagen. Other teams are Fremad Amager, B93, AB, Frem, Lyngby and Hvidovre IF.

Parken Stadium
Copenhagen also has multiple ice hockey teams, of which two are playing in the top league, AL-Bank Ligaen, namely Rødovre Mighty Bulls and Hvidovre Ligahockey.
World ranked no.2, Peter Gade, is one of the world's best international badminton players.
There are a lot of handball teams in Copenhagen. FC København owns both a women's and a men's team, which have the same name and logo. They were formerly known as FIF. Of other clubs playing in the "highest" leagues there are; Ajax Heroes, Ydun, and HIK (Hellerup).
Rugby union is also played in the Danish capital with teams such as CSR-Nanok, Copenhagen Business School Sport Rugby and Rugbyklubben Speed. The Danish Australian Football League, based in Copenhagen is the largest Australian rules football competition outside of the English speaking world.
In 2011 Copenhagen will host the UCI Road World Championships.

Amusement parks


Built in 1874 the Pantomime Theatre is the oldest building in the Tivoli Gardens
Copenhagen has the two oldest amusement parks in the World.[63] World-famous Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and pleasure garden located right in the middle of Copenhagen between the City Hall Square and the Central Station. Among its rides are the oldest still operating roller coaster and the oldest ferris wheel in the World.[64] It also functions as an open-air concert venue. It opened on August 15, 1843 making it the second oldest amusement park in the world. Dyrehavsbakken (in English "the Deer Garden Hill") is located in Klampenborg a little north of Copenhagen in a forested area known as dyrehaven. Having been made into an amusement park complete with rides, games and restaurants by Christian IV, it is the oldest surviving amusement park in the World.[63]

Cuisine

As of 2009, Copenhagen has 13 Michelin star restaurants, the most of any Scandinavian city.[65] The city is increasingly recognized internationally as a gourmet destination.[66] Apart from the selection of upmarket restaurants, Copenhagen offers a great variety of Danish, international and ethnic restaurants. It is possible to find modest eateries serving open sandwiches ("smørrebrød") – the traditional and best known Danish lunch dish; however, most restaurants serve international dishes. Another local specialty, Danish pastry, can be sampled from any of numerous bakeries found in all parts of the city. The restaurant Noma (Short for Danish: nordisk mad English: Nordic food) was ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant in 2010.[67]
Copenhagen has long been associated with beer. Carlsberg beer has been brewed at the brewery's premises at the border between Vesterbro and Valby districts since 1847 and has long been almost synonymous with Danish beer production. However, recent years have seen an explosive growth in the number of microbreweries so that Denmark today has more than 100 breweries,[68] many of which are located in Copenhagen. Some like Nørrebro Bryghus also act as brewpubs where it is also possible to eat at the premises.

Media

Many Danish media corroborations are located in Copenhagen. DR, the major Danish public service broadcasting corporation collected their activities in a new headquarters, DR byen, in 2006 and 2007. Similarly has Odense based TV2 collected its Copenhagen activities in a modern media house in the Teglholmen. [69] The two national daily newspapers Politiken and Berlingske Tidende and the two tabloids Ekstra Bladet and B.T. are based in Copenhagen. Other important media corporations include Aller Media which is the largest publisher of weekly and monthly magazines in Scandinavia, the Egmont media group and Gyldendal, the largest Danish publisher of books.
Copenhagen also has a sizable movie and television industry. Filmbyen, The Movie City, which is located in a former military camp in the suburb of Hvidovre and houses several movie companies and studio studios. Among the movie companies are Zentropa co-owned by Danish movie director Lars von Trier who is behind several international movie productions as well as a founding force behind the Dogma Movement.

Annual events


Round Christiansborg Open Water Swim participants in Frederiksholm Canal
  • Copenhagen Jazz Festival, which begins on the first Friday in July, is a popular annual event that is the result of Copenhagen's significant jazz scene. The festival takes place throughout the city in streets, squares and parks as well as in cafés and concert halls.[74] It embraces around 900 concerts, 100 venues and over 200,000 guests from Denmark and around the world. It is recognized as one of the leading jazz festivals in the World.[75][76]
  • Copenhagen Pride is a gay pride festival taking place every year in August. Among the events is "Tivoli goes pink" and it ends with a parade.[77]
  • Round Christiansborg Open Water Swim Race is a 2 km open water swimming competition taking place each year in late August. This amateur event is combined with a 10 km Danish championship. In 2009 the event included a 10 km FINA World Cup competition in the morning.
  • Copenhagen Cooking takes place in August every year and is a food festival with a wide array of events all over the city.
  • CPH:PIX is Copenhagen's international feature film festival, established in 2009 as a fusion of the 20-year-old Natfilm festival and the 4-year-old CIFF. The CPH:PIX festival takes place in mid-April.[78]
  • CPH:DOX is Copenhagen's international documentary film festival, every year in November. On top of its documentary film programme of over 100 films, CPH:DOX includes a wide event programme with dozens of events, concerts, exhibitions and parties all over town.[78]
  • Copenhell is an outdoor metal festival located on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen. Everything from death metal to hard rock is played on two scenes: Helvíti and Hades.

Economy

Copenhagen is the economic and financial centre of Denmark[79] and also strong business and economic centre in the Scandinavian-Baltic region. In 2008, Copenhagen was ranked 4th by Financial Times-owned FDi magazine on their list of Top 50 European Cities of the Future after London, Paris and Berlin.[80] In 2006/07 FDi Magazine named Copenhagen Scandinavian City of the Future[81] and in 2004/05 Copenhagen was named Northern European City of the Future ahead of other cities from Scandinavia, UK, Ireland and Benelux.[82] In the 2008 Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index, published by MasterCard, Copenhagen was ranked 14th in the world and 1st in Scandinavia.[83] Copenhagen is one of the cities in Western Europe attracting most regional headquarters and distribution centres.[84] Among the international companies that have chosen to locate their regional headquarters in Copenhagen is Microsoft. There are 2,100 foreign companies located in the Copenhagen area, of which approx. 500 are Scandinavian head offices, representing a wide range of industries.

Shipping and cleantech, Middelgrunden
Copenhagen has a service oriented economy. An important sector is life science and research & development plays a major role in the economy of the city. The entire Oresund Region is in cooperation with Sweden being promoted as Medicon Valley. Major Danish biotech companies like Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck, both of which are among 50 largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the World, are located in the greater Copenhagen area.[85] The region also boasts the largest IT-cluster in Scandinavia with nearly 100,000 employees and the city of Copenhagen is home to Nokia's largest research centre outside Finland.[86] Shipping is also an import business with Maersk, the World's largest shipping company, having their world headquarters in Copenhagen.
Several international companies have established their regional headquarters in Copenhagen, e.g. Microsoft. Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, has their world headquarters in Copenhagen. A substantial number of Danish pharmaceuticals such as Novo Nordisk, Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Bavarian Nordic also operate in the area, having placed their headquarters in or close to Copenhagen.[85]
Copenhagen has some of the highest gross wages in the world.[87] High taxes mean that wages are reduced after mandatory deduction. A beneficial researcher scheme with low taxation of foreign specialists[88] has made Denmark an attractive location for foreign labour to settle. Copenhagen is however also among the most expensive cities in Europe.[89][90]

Education, science, research

Copenhagen has a well-developed higher education system of public universities. Most prominent among these is the University of Copenhagen. Founded in 1479, it is the oldest university in Denmark. It is a world-renowned research and teaching institution with campuses around the city and forms part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), which is a collaboration between international top universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Berkeley and The Australian National University. The University attracts app. 1500 international and exchange students every year.[91] It is repeatedly ranked as one of the best universities in Europe. At the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings 2008 list, it was ranked as fourth best in continental Europe.[92] The Academic Ranking of World Universities 2008 placed it as number 43 worldwide and 8th in Europe.[93] A second all-round university in the Copenhagen area is Roskilde University located in Roskilde.
The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, is located in Lyngby at the northern outskirts of Copenhagen. In 2008 it was ranked third highest in Europe on Times Higher Education's list of the most influential technical universities in the World. The Max Planck Institute in Germany was ranked 15, ETH Zurich in Switzerland was ranked 15 and DTU in Denmark was ranked 20.[94]
Copenhagen Business School (CBS) is an esteemed and EQUIS accredited business school located in Frederiksberg.
The IT University of Copenhagen is Denmark's youngest university, a mono-faculty institution focusing on technical, societal and business aspects of information technology.
There are also branches of both University College Capital and Metropolitan University College inside and outside Copenhagen.

Medicon Valley

Main article: Medicon Valley
Copenhagen is rich in companies and institutions with a focus on research and development within the biotechnology[95] and life science sectors. Two of the 50 largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the World are located in the greater Copenhagen area. The biotech and life science cluster in Copenhagen and the rest of the Oresund Region is one of the strongest in Europe. Since 1995 this has been branded as the Medicon Valley in a Danish-Swedish cooperation. The aim is to strengthen the region's position and to promote cooperation between companies and academia. The German biotech giant Sartorius Stedim Biotech, which is currently creating a Nordic head office in Tåstrup on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The Øresund region is responsible for 60 percent of life science production in Scandinavia and is home to 111 biotech companies.[96]

Cleantech

Copenhagen was mentioned by Clean Edge as one of the key cleantech clusters to watch in their 2008 book The Cleantech Revolution. The city is the focal point for more than 300 cleantech companies drawing on 46 research institutions. The cluster employs more than 60.000 people and is characterized by a close collaboration between universities, business and governing institutions. The regions most important cleantech research institutions are the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School,[97] Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and the Technical University of Denmark which Risø is now part of.

Transport

The greater Copenhagen area has a very well established transportation infrastructure making it a hub in Northern Europe.

Roads

Copenhagen has a large network of toll-free motorways and public roads connecting different municipalities of the city together and to Northern Europe.[98] As in many other cities in Europe traffic is increasing in Copenhagen. The radial arterial roads leading to Copenhagen city centre are critically congested during peak hours.[99]

Cycling

Main article: Cycling in Copenhagen

Bicycle rush hour in Copenhagen, where 37% of the population ride their bikes every day.
Copenhagen is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world.[100] Every day 1.1 million km are bicycled in Copenhagen.[101] 36% of all citizens commute to work, school or university by bicycle[102] and it is municipal policy that this number should go up to 40% by 2012 and 50% in 2015.[103] The city's bicycle paths are extensive and well used. Bicycle paths are often separated from the main traffic lanes and sometimes have their own signal systems.
The municipality is also developing a system of interconnected green bicycle routes, greenways, the aim being to facilitate fast, safe, and pleasant bicycle transport from one end of the city to the other. The network will cover more than 100 km (62 mi) and will have 22 routes when finished.[103] The city provides public bicycles which can be found throughout the downtown area and used with a returnable deposit of 20 kroner.
Copenhagen's well-developed bicycle culture is reflected in the use of ‘copenhagenize’ to describe the practice of other cities adopting Copenhagen-style bike lanes and bicycle infrastructure.[104] In 2007, Copenhagen-based Danish urban design consultant Jan Gehl was hired by the New York City Department of Transportation to re-imagine New York City streets by introducing designs to improve life for pedestrians and cyclists.[105] In recognition of Copenhagen's emphasis on bicycling, the city has been chosen by the Union Cycliste Internationale as their first official Bike City. Bike City Copenhagen will take place from 2008 to 2011 and consist of large cycling events for professionals as well as amateurs.[102]

Harbour


A Copenhagen Harbour Bus approaching Knippelsbro Bridge
The harbour of Copenhagen has largely lost its industrial importance. In 2001, Copenhagen Harbour merged with the harbour in Malmö to create Copenhagen-Malmö Port. It has several functions, the most important being as a major cruise destination. In 2007 a record 286 cruise ships with 420,000 cruise passengers visited Copenhagen. 120 of these ships either started or ended the cruise in Copenhagen.[106] In 2008 these numbers grew further to 310 cruise ships and 560,000 passengers.[107] As a result of the growth in the cruise industry facilities are being expanded and improved.[108] At the World Travel Awards in 2008, Copenhagen Port was named the number one cruise destination in Europe for the fifth year in a row.[109]
Copenhagen is serviced by ferry lines to Oslo in Norway (called "Oslobåden") with a daily connection[110] and to Świnoujście in Poland (called "Polensfærgerne") with five weekly connections.[111]
Copenhagen has four lines of waterbuses, known as the Copenhagen Harbour Buses, serving ten water bus stops; four on the Amager-side and six on the Zealand-side of the harbour, from Sluseholmen in the South to Holmen in the North.

Airports

Copenhagen Airport is the principal airport serving Copenhagen. It is the largest in Scandinavia and the 17th largest in Europe.[4] Located in Kastrup on the island of Amager, it has efficient connections to downtown Copenhagen, with trip times of 15 minutes to Kongens Nytorv via metro (with 4–6 minutes between departures) and 12 minutes to Central Station via regional train. Its location also makes it the most important international airport for large parts of southern Sweden. Over the Øresund Bridge trains go to Malmö South in 14 minutes or Malmö Central Station in 22 minutes.[112] Skytrax rates Copenhagen Airport as the seventh best airport in the world, and the second best in Europe.[113]

[edit] Public transportation


Metro entrance in Frederiksberg

Christiansborg Palace – home of the Danish Parliament Folketinget, the Supreme Court, Office of the Prime Minister and official reception area of Queen Margrethe II

Børsen – the Stock Exchange building

Nyhavn, the 17th century waterfront

Rosenborg Castle in central Copenhagen

Christianshavns Canal
Local transport The local transportation system of Copenhagen consists of a number of different, but combined, train systems and several types of buses. The four different rail systems are
  1. Re-tog regional trains (stops at major stations only, continues as interregional trains outside Copenhagen local traffic area)
  2. S-tog S-train (a combined urban and suburban rail system, the distance between stations is approximately 2 km (1.24 mi) within the central parts)
  3. Copenhagen Metro (under further development, a part of the new circle line opens 2014 and the circle line is complete at 2018)
  4. Local trains in the periphery of the metropolitan area. (modern but usually driven by diesel or natural gas)
There are 193 rail stations. Most of them have connecting bus services. THIS link shows all lines, stations and fare zones
Tickets. The Copenhagen local traffic area is divided in 95 zones. Zones 1,2 and 3 are equal to Copenhagen inner city. Ticket machines exist on all stations, and tickets can also be bought at busses and manually at the major stations. A ticket price inside the Copenhagen local traffic area is always between two and nine zones (a nine zone ticket goes for all zones). Price is currently (2010) 11.50 DKK for each zone. There are a number of fare discount systems, for instance 24 hour travel card.
The main junction stations for interchange between system or lines are the stations of Nørreport, Valby, Danshøj, Kastrup Airport, Ny Ellebjerg, Hellerup, Østerport, Ryparken, Ørestaden, Flintholm, and København H (Copenhagen Central Station). The latter is also a hub for trains with destinations outside the Copenhagen local traffic area.
Danish and international trains
Copenhagen Central Station provides Copenhagen with Intercity and Express trains across Denmark, as well as services to several international destinations. The train traffic to Hamburg is especially heavy, and other distant destinations can also be reached by daily international trains. Trains to southern and western Sweden depart every 20 minutes. (A special ticket fare system exists between the Copenhagen local traffic area and the most southern part of Sweden, Skåne county.)

Environment

Copenhagen is recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.[114] Much of the city's success can be attributed to a strong municipal policy combined with a sound national policy, in 1971 Denmark established a Ministry of Environment and the first country in the world to implement an environmental law in 1973. In 2006 Copenhagen Municipality received the European Environmental Management Award.[115] The award was given for long-term holistic environmental planning. It is municipal policy to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% before the end of 2015.[116] In 2001 a large offshore wind farm was built just off the coast of Copenhagen at Middelgrunden. It produces about 4% of the city's energy.[117]
Many years of major investments in sewage treatment has improved water quality in the harbour to an extent that the inner harbour can be used for swimming and facilities for this are provided at a number of locations.[118]
Another municipal policy is that 40% of all citizens should bicycle to and from work by 2012 and a number of initiatives are being taken to implement this policy (see "bicycling above").[119]
Copenhagen is the capital in the world where organic food has the largest market share. One in every ten purchases is organic in Copenhagen.[120] Within the municipal sector in Copenhagen, 45% of all food consumption is organic but the target is considerably higher. With the environmental strategy "Environment Metropolis: Our Vision 2015" the politicians wish that solely organic food is to be served in 90 per cent of the Copenhagen old-age homes and residential homes for children and young persons in 2015.[120]

International rankings

Copenhagen has placed well in a number of international rankings, some of which are mentioned below.

General rankings and comment

  • Copenhagen is ranked 11th in Mercer's Quality of Living global city rankings 2009.[121]
  • It was ranked #1 as Most Livable City in the World by international lifestyle magazine Monocle on their Top 25 Most Livable Cities 2008 list[122] and World's Best Design City 2008 also by Monocle. In 2010, Monocle ranked Copenhagen as the 2nd most liveable city, losing the top spot to Munich.[122]
  • In 2008, Copenhagen was ranked #4 by Financial Times-owned FDi magazine on their list of Top50 European Cities of the Future after London, Paris and Berlin.[80] In 2006/07 FDi Magazine named Copenhagen Scandinavian City of the Future[81] and in 2004/05 Copenhagen was named Northern European City of the Future ahead of other cities from Scandinavia, UK, Ireland and Benelux.[82]
  • It is the world's #7 most expensive city and #3 most expensive in Europe on the Forbes List.[123]

Business and commerce rankings

  • In 2009, Copenhagen was named an Innovation Nexus City and ranked 12th in Europe and 17th globally for innovation across 31 sectors, out of 256 cities in the Innovation Cities Index published by 2thinknow.[124]
  • In the 2008 Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index, published by MasterCard, Copenhagen was ranked 14th in the world and 1st in Scandinavia.[83]
  • In the The 2008 Global Cities Index, Copenhagen was ranked 36th in the world, 15th in Europe, and 2nd in Scandinavia.[125]
  • Copenhagen ranks 3rd in Western Europe and 1st in the Nordic countries for attracting head offices.[126]
  • Copenhagen #1 out of 254 locations in the Location Ranking Survey performed by ECA International that has asked European experts where they prefer to be stationed worldwide.[127]
  • It is ranked #7 as Preferred City For Investment Projects.[128]
  • It ranked 3rd in Western Europe in terms of attracting regional headquarters and distribution centres, only surpassed by London and Paris.[84]
  • It ranks #1 in the 2006 Global Earning Ranking.[129]
  • The city ranks as the 5th most popular city in the world for international meetings and conferences.[130]

Specific rankings and related awards

  • It was ranked #6 in Grist Magazine's "15 Green Cities" list in 2007 making Copenhagen the greenest capital of Scandinavia according to Grist Magazine.[131]
  • The Copenhagen Metro has been named the Best Metro in the World by industry experts.[132]
  • Travellers have voted Copenhagen the cleanest city in Europe.[133]
  • Lonely Planet ranks Copenhagen as Scandinavia's ' coolest ' capital .[citation needed]
  • Copenhagen was ranked as one of the most attractive cities to live and work in Europe.[134]

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Denmark

Partnerships

Copenhagen does not have official sister cities, but maintains cooperation on specific areas with other cities around the world: